2013 Day 72 – Numbers 25-27, Psalms 35

13 Wednesday Mar 2013

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In Psalm 35 you can hear David’s cry for vindication. He is begging God to step in and help him to punish his enemies. This can be very confusing to think it is ok to ask these things of God, but the reality is God is the only one who can step in and judge and punish our enemies. It is never our place to do it. What surprised me was how freely God allowed David to make his petition for exacting revenge. I think this shows that anger is an acceptable emotion, but we must be careful to understand that vengeance is God’s right, not ours.

2013 Day 71 – Numbers 22-24, Psalm 34

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

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You can’t help but laugh a little when you read the interaction between Balaam and his donkey in Numbers 22:28-33, 28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” 29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.” 30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said. 31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. 32 The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. 33The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.” The lesson for us in this reading is that God will open up our eyes when necessary, but we need to be aware of the way situations open and close for us. When there is a blocked path in front of us and all we want to do is plow through it, we should pay attention to why it is there. We need to trust in God’s leading no matter how much it may not make sense to us.

2013 Day 70 – Numbers 18-21, Psalm 33

11 Monday Mar 2013

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In Numbers 20 we see an example of how much obedience God requires of us. Even Moses, who God earlier described as someone He spoke with directly, was required to obey God fully. And even Moses, a man who exemplified a faithful servant of God, was not perfect. When Moses struck the rock, it showed how much we need God’s grace because no one is perfect. The point is not for us to reach perfection in the way we act, the point is we realize how much we depend on God for everything, especially salvation through the forgiveness of our sins. Let us be reminded that God requires a relationship with Him through trust, obedience, and faith that He is the provider of grace and, in turn, forgiveness of our sins.

2013 Day 69 – Numbers 15-17, Psalm 32

10 Sunday Mar 2013

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The verse that stood out to me today was Psalm 32:9, Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. We are to allow God to guide us step by step instead of driving ourselves in a direction that doesn’t give us any options. We should never force ourselves into a place where God’s only alternative is to discipline and punish us into obedience.

2013 Day 68 – Numbers 11-14, Psalm 31

09 Saturday Mar 2013

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Two verses stood out to me in today’s reading. The first was Numbers 11:23, The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?, you will now see whether or not what I say will come true.” How often do we not trust in The Lord and act as though He is unable to reach the problems we face in life. Let us not act as though God is unable and begin to understand that sometimes God is unwilling because He ultimately knows better than us.

The second verse that stood out to me today was Numbers 14:18, ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ God is very slow to anger. While God is merciful and shows us grace for our imperfect lives, continued rebellion will eventually lead to consequences. God will always forgive us, but He will never allow us to blatantly continue disobedience of Him.

2013 Day 67 – Numbers 8-10, Psalm 30

08 Friday Mar 2013

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We are now approaching the Israelite’s first attempt to cross into the promised land. Though we know how this will turn out, it is important to see where the Israelites went wrong. Ultimately, it was not because they were afraid; fear is a normal human emotion. They failed because they didn’t trust in the creator of the universe. If we look at Numbers 10:35, Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord ! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.” Moses knew God’s power and understood God needed to lead them in all they set out to do. This is a lesson to us all. We cannot expect to be victorious in all God has asked us to do if we don’t put God up in front of our lives. We must start by placing God in front of every step. This sounds impossible, but God never asked for perfection, He asked for obedience.

2013 Day 66 – Francis Chan – Don’t Focus on the Family

07 Thursday Mar 2013

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Today, as a break from our daily reading, my good friend Sarah shared this video for our reflection day. It’s about 20 minutes long, but it is well worth your time. This is such a good reminder of our purpose as believers. I would love to here your thoughts in the comments section after you listen to it.

 

If you ever come across anything you’d like me to post on this blog, please fee free to contact me at dino.evangelista@gmail.com.

2013 Day 65 – Numbers 4-7, Psalm 29

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

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In reading Psalm 29 we see David describing how might God’s voice is. By His mighty voice all things were created and all things are under His control. When things seem the most out of control we must remember that God has the power to do things differently if He ever chooses. We must trust in Him to know He has purpose in His perfect plan for us.

2013 Day 64 – Numbers 1-3, Psalm 28

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

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Today we start the exciting book of Numbers. Ok, I’ll be honest, it probably won’t be that exciting unless you think balancing your checkbook is the highlight of your week. However, we must keep in mind the purpose of the book, which was to show the precision by which God would prepare the Israelites to enter the promised land. In this book we will also see the disobedience by the Israelites when they show a lack of faith by not entering the promised land because of fear. God punishes them for their disobedience by making them wait another 40 years. The thing to remember is God has a perfect plan for each of us. If we lack courage to move forward it is because of us, not God. We must always look to Him and know He is always with us. Just like we read yesterday in the book of Hebrews, He is the same yesterday today and tomorrow. We are the ones who change, not Him.

2013 Day 63 – Hebrews 11-13, Psalm 27

04 Monday Mar 2013

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Hebrews 12:2 says it all for me today, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Our attention should not be on anything other than Jesus. He deserves our attention and honor through everything we do. We will never be outside His will and His perfect plan if we seek Him before we ever do anything else.

The other verse that stood out to me was Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. When we talk about the changing of our relationship with Jesus, it is us who changes, not Him. He loves us the same and it is up to us to allow Him into our lives to experience everything He wants to do for us.